scot47

https://newmatilda.com/2017/07/14/br...ship-revealed/

seems that even if you are not aware of being a dual citizen it can debar you from public life. Another Green has just resigned after finding that she is a Canadian citizen, although she lst Canada aged 11 months.

https://newmatilda.com/2017/07/18/br...nship-bungles/

GarryP

The story was always that Tony was still a British citizen, and he never provided evidence to disprove it. The greens are falling to factional infighting.

It'd say they should be concentrating more on checking that the MPs weren't corrupt or mentally unstable before they worry about putative second citizenships. At least half of them aren't fit to be there, before you even get to minimum competence levels.

Beoz

Julia Gillard had bigger question marks. Penny Wong suspect too.

But I do agree, dual citizenships are not important. Quality of the politician is.

Paying them so little will only attract the bottom of the pile. Alternatively get politicians who don't need the money and wish to do the job without finincial gain.

Tom Sawyer

Although I get the point that you could have a division of interests holding dual citizenship......as Australia is largely a country of immigrants, Parliament could be missing out on a whole lot of talent as they are excluded from standing under this rule?

Amazulu

TA very much has provided proof that he is no longer a UK citizen - a fact that doesn't fit in with your BE agenda

Amazulu

Don't know about Gillard but Wong, unfortunately, is okay

South Australian really has provided some of the worst female politicians this nation has experienced

Amazulu

Both Ludlam and Waters were terrible and destructive politicians, with hateful, racist and divisive policies and they should have known the rules, but in the case of both of them I think the system is flawed

New Zealand and Canada are not exactly enemies of Australia, so maybe the constitution needs to be changed to reflect this - perhaps open it up to dual citizens of the UK, the old dominions and possibly the US. I would imagine that this would require a referendum though so is a non-starter

Amazulu

And the counter argument is that if they really want the gig then they should be prepared to renounce their 'foreign' citizenship and commit fully to Australia

I can see both sides of the story though

Swerv-o

Yup - Abbott provided evidence that he had disowned UK citizenship in 1993.


S

Beoz

Hold on. Post #2 didn't say that. Post #2 said that he never provided evidence to disprove it.

Do you mean to say post #2 is fake news?

Swerv-o

Not particularly - Abbott only released that letter last week, so I think it's not unreasonable for people to perhaps not be fully across that development yet. And Abbott is, after all, yesterday's news now.

There's a difference between lack of knowledge and deliberate 'fake news'. Though sometimes it is a very fine line...


S

BritInParis

'Oops, I forgot I was born in Canada/New Zealand' is a pretty poor excuse given that both Abbott and Gillard's renunciation of British citizenship has been widely publicised in the past.

Beoz

Benefit of the doubt granted

He is yesterdays news, but he loves the limelight. I really wish the Libs had the power to piss him off completely. Its just distruptive. I guess only the constituents of Insular Peninsula have the power for that.

Swerv-o

Agreed - Him sniping from the sidelines is not helping the Liberals election chances.

I don't think that Malcolm has long left now though - I am hoping that Julie Bishop can muster the numbers to replace him.


S

GarryP

Yeah, and the key thing is he didn't release it when there were all the questions and freedom of information requests going around. In fact he only got that letter after the Prince Philip knighthood thing was happening and he was already on his way out with knives in his back.

So why is he releasing it now, and not back when their were some big questions floating around? Why unforced now, when there were many calls then.

And if the greens had behaved as Abbott did and ignored the questions, they'd still be sitting in parliament.

Frankly if citizenship is questioned then any MP should need to substantiate their eligibility within weeks - not have it rely on them being trustworthy and telling the truth - since not all are as honest as the greens have been.